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The False Memory Experiment: Elizabeth Loftus

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The False Memory Experiment “One of the field’s most innovative female experimental psychologists, Loftus invented a rather alarming and philosophically profound experiment designed to test the text of our remembrances so as to determine whether to call them fictions or to call them facts”(Slater 181). Elizabeth Loftus is a well known psychologist, even though many dislike her and her studies. Loftus researches the human memory. She believes that memory is unreliable and elastic, due to the fact that she also believes one’s mind can create false memories. In many cases of child abuse, Loftus believes that the accused are innocent due to outsiders implanting the ideas into the “victim’s” mind. In order to prove that memories can be manipulated …show more content…

Henry had severe seizures growing up and later had his hippocampus removed. The hippocampus is a part of the brain that helps store long-term memories. After the procedure, Henry could not retain any new memories due to the procedure. However, he could recognize his mother’s face, which means he was able to recall his long-term memory. Given this information, it was believed that the hippocampus played a role in creating new memories. First, Kandel wanted to discover how the brain stores memories. He thought he could discover more about memory if he studied how nerve cells communicate with each other. Kandel then gathered slug neurons to allow the cells to communicate. The training resulted in synapses growing stronger and behavior becoming engraved. The experiment created a pathway for communication between the two neurons. Significantly, he was one of the first to have a primitive memory model. Then, Kandel decided to experiment to discover how short-term memory converted into long-term memory. This time, he made connections with the slug’s neurons and then blocked a molecule to demonstrate a conversation could be disrupted. This resulted in Eric Kandel discovering CREB and CREB repressor. Personally, the only unethical issue I have with this experiment is the fact that slugs were used. Then again, we must experiment on something. Without the use of animals, we wouldn’t be as far into science as we are

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It is unlikely that social consequences of false memories can be avoided. Elizabeth Loftus was intrigued to study false memories, and is perhaps personally responsible for subsequent developments throughout the history of false memories. Some of this history addresses various theories aimed at isolating how or why false memories occur. These include Source Monitoring Framework, Activation Monitoring Theory, Fuzzy Trace Theory, and strategies for persuasion which can lead to the development of false memory. Such persuasion leads to the present discussion concerning how persuasion in the judicial system has created false confessions and wrongful eyewitness testimonies, due to the Misinformation Effect.

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Followed by the lack of corroboration, which is an important aspect in courtrooms, “corroboration will add credibility to the memory and lack of it may raise doubts about the allegations.” Loftus considers that relying on memory is not a valid way of justice; the legal system needs to improve when eyewitness testimonials are used in the courts. Loftus confides as a psychologist that psychological science has taught them about human memory and that the research has revealed the limits of human memory. Adding on, these research findings need to be incorporated in procedures to improve the court system. She hopes readers will acknowledge the fact that the use of memories in a trial can be problematic since they are “dangerous” and can lead to false

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The goal of the present research was to understand how false memories could be created with little, or no awareness to the individual and such “memories” be recognized with a high confidence level.

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His study proved that the monkey’s brain restructured itself. This test of the brain’s capability to change is what’s known as

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Sydney Caparaso Mrs. Sherry AP Psychology 27 August 2015 Witness for the Defense: Elizabeth Loftus Human memory may not, as many think, resemble a permanent tape of our lives ' events, replayable at a whim. Elizabeth Loftus discusses her theories of memory and accuracy in her book, Witness for the Defense. Loftus has testified as an expert witness in more than 150 court cases, several of which she sites, discussing the different ways a memory can be fallible.

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For example, Roger Sperry a neurologist from 1963 suggested that billions of intricate connections in the brain were each ascertained by distinct chemical markers on each neuron. According to this theory, particular genes supposedly arrange a code for each of the markers (Rosenfield). As stated in the above paragraph Edelman was more concerned with the bigger picture when it comes to scientific question, so when approached by this topic, he dealt with the deeper issue of the relationship between genes, and the form and structure (Rosenfield). Other scientists who were working at the time were Francis Crick, Max Velmans, Schneider, Phillip David Zelazo, and Cristof Koch (NCBI). Crick also turned to the field of neurology after coming upon a major breakthrough in the biology field (Seth).

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The art of deception has long been mastered by poets, playwrights, and authors alike, used in a myriad of the most prolific literature works throughout modern history. Stories such as The Scarlet Letter, The Kite Runner, and The Crucible all have major plot lines based firmly around the development and augmentation of deception and duplicity. Amongst these works of literature lies one of the most prominent and outstanding examples of deception composed by Kim Edwards, a current American author and educator. Based in 1970s small-town America, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter exemplifies profound deception usage as one of the novel’s most extrusive driving points, making it one of the 21st century’s proudest compositions.

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In 1984 Kirk Bloodsworth was convicted of the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl and sentenced to the gas chamber an outcome that rested largely on the testimony of five eyewitnesses. One third of these overturned cases rested on the testimony of two or more mistaken eyewitnesses. How could so many eyewitnesses be wrong? Eyewitness identification typically involves selecting the alleged perpetrator from a police lineup, but it can also be based on police sketches and other methods. Soon after selecting a suspect, eyewitnesses are asked to make a formal statement confirming the ID and to try to recall any other details about events surrounding the crime.

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Can false memory lead people to false confessions? In the current criminal justice system, if suspects admit to committing the crime, it is often used as evidence against them. However, during the interrogation process, the police may present false evidence and use suggestive questions to make the suspect willing to confess. There are three types of false confession: voluntary, coerced-compliant, and coerced internalized. Voluntary is when the suspect confesses based on his or her own decisions without outside pressure.

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Even if you don't acknowledge it, we all have a family. Some of us may have delight and others may loathe our family. Family can be blood and some by no means actually related. Either way this is for you, the real question is how far would you go for them? Would you sacrifice yourself for them?

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The Little Albert experiment was a case study showing empirical evidence of classical conditioning in humans. The study also provides an example of stimulus generalization. It was carried out by John B. Watson and his graduate student, Rosalie Rayner, at Johns Hopkins University. The results were first published in the February 1920 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology. After observing children in the field, Watson hypothesized that the fearful response of children to loud noises is an innate unconditioned response.

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During the course of the semester we learned about group theory, creating videos explaining the basics of group theory. We stated the four axioms of group theory and gave examples of group theory in the real world. Now what if I told you that group theory originated in the heavens, mainly from the big guy himself. Have I gotten your attention yet? Well, before I go into my explanation of God and group theory, I feel that it would be a good idea to look back and review what groups consist of.

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Unlike photographs or video footage, our memories cannot serve as completely accurate records of the past regardless of how rich a recollection may appear. In fact, our memory is rather capable of being erroneous. Not only are our memories vulnerable to forgetting, but also to suggestion and additional misleading details that may consequently alter the original memory. Recently, a great deal of research has been investigating the phenomenon of false memories—either remembering events that never occurred, or remembering them quite differently from the way said events actually happened (Roediger et al., 1995, p. 803). Although there has not been any evidence that has revealed false memories to cause direct harm, their interference with original

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The biological approach to the basis of memory is explained in terms of underlying biological factors such as the activity of the nervous system, genetic factors, biochemical and neurochemicals. In general terms memory is our ability to encode, store, retain and recall information and past experiences afterwards in the human brain. In biological terms, memory is the recreation of past experiences by simultaneous activation or firing of neurons. Some of the major biopsychological research questions on memory are what are the biological substrates of memory, where are memories stored in the brain, how are memories assessed during recall and what is the mechanism of forgetting. The two main reasons that gave rise to the interest in biological basis of memory are that researchers became aware of the fact that many memory deficits arise from injuries to the brain.

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One famous case of amnesia supporting Squire's view is patient H.M. (Scoville & Milner, 1957), who had parts of his left and right temporal lobe, hippocampus, amygdala and surrounding areas of both removed. He developed severe anterograde amnesia, the inability to learn new information, resulting in an almost completely absent short-term memory storage. He also had moderate retrograde amnesia, unable to remember information between 3 to 11 years prior to his surgery, but with other long-term memories unaffected. Explaining this, Squire argued that memories are consolidated in the hippocampus, easily disrupted by trauma during this. They become less dependent on the hippocampus with time, eventually being stored in the neocortex (Alvarez &

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